Saudi Basic Third-Quarter Profit Surges 54% as Sales Rise; Beats Estimates - Bloomberg

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), the world’s biggest petrochemicals maker, said third-quarter profit surged 54 percent, beating analysts’ estimates.

Net income jumped to 8.2 billion riyals ($2.2 billion) from 5.3 billion riyals a year earlier, Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Al-Mady said at a press conference in Riyadh today. The estimate of four analysts was for a profit of 7.7 billion riyals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Saudi petrochemical companies have been recovering from the global financial crisis as oil prices soared and as demand from fast-growing Asian economies including China and India rose. Oil prices averaged about $90 a barrel in the third quarter compared with $76 a barrel in the year-earlier period.

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